Staged Payloads

A staged payload is a payload that is delivered in multiple stages.

The first stage, known as the “stager,” is a small and simple piece of code whose purpose is to establish communication with the attacker-controlled infrastructure.

The stager is responsible for downloading and executing the second stage, which is the main payload (often referred to as the “stage”).

Stageless

Stageless payloads are standalone executable which contains all the requirements of the beacon including to establish a connection with the C2 infrastructure and persist for post-exploitation.